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A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro
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A Pale View of Hills (original 1982; edition 1982)

by Kazuo Ishiguro

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
2,980874,583 (3.7)1 / 336
The story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter. In a story where past and present confuse, she relives scenes of Japan's devastation in the wake of World War II.
Member:sturlington
Title:A Pale View of Hills
Authors:Kazuo Ishiguro
Info:
Collections:Read but unowned
Rating:***
Tags:1980s, Fiction, Japan, family, memory, suicide, World War II

Work Information

A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro (1982)

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 Author Theme Reads: Ishiguro: A Pale View of Hills6 unread / 6kidzdoc, November 2009

» See also 336 mentions

English (80)  Spanish (2)  Dutch (2)  Norwegian (1)  Italian (1)  All languages (86)
Showing 1-5 of 80 (next | show all)
Reason read: TBR takedown, Reading 1001.
This was Ishiguro's debut novel. It is set in post WWII. To me it is a story of family and changes in family following the war. It also explores the suicide death of a daughter. It is a bit scrambled with past and present mixed up so that does make the story line a bit hard to follow. Over all I did enjoy the book. ( )
  Kristelh | Dec 10, 2023 |
Very atmospheric but odd ending. ( )
  kakadoo202 | Oct 21, 2023 |
Haunting tale about the lasting impact of war trauma on civilians. Iran only assume the portrayal of interpersonal relations has some authenticity. Some similarity to US culture but also so so different. ( )
  CharleySweet | Jul 2, 2023 |
No one does a repressed melancholic unreliable narrator like Ishiguro. I admire how so many of his trademarks were already so well-established and so well-done in his first novel.

There are so many themes in the book worthy of deeper dissections in an English literature class, in particular the setting of Nagasaki and the characters' occasional references to how everything is different, and not just because of the ordinary passage of time. I also enjoyed the small mundane details of everyday life, drinking tea, putting on your shoes, and preparing meals and so on.

The plot destines itself to multiple interpretations and if you're someone who welcomes open-ended answers, Ishiguro and this book is for you. ( )
  kitzyl | Apr 20, 2023 |
It’s very hard to write a review for this book. I really like the tone of the book, it reminds me a lot of some old Japanese books I read before. On the other hand the plot is very confusing. I felt there is a deeper meaning and things may not happened the way the narrator describes (talk about unreliable narrator) but I could not seem to be able to connect the dots entirely. It’s like a dream, you think you know what had happened but when you woke up everything is so muddled. I believe this is a book that requires multiple reading. I probably will reread it again after a while. The writing is brilliant but I am just very confused at the end. Maybe that is the author’s intention? ( )
  hongjunz | Feb 20, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 80 (next | show all)
A Pale View of Hills is eery and tenebrous. It is a ghost story, but the narrator, Etsuko, does not realize that. She is the widow of an Englishman, and lives alone and rather desolate in an English country house. Her elder daughter, Keiko, the child of her Japanese first husband, killed herself some years before. The novel opens during a visit from her younger daughter, Niki, the child of her English second husband. Etsuko recalls her past, but Niki, a brusque, emancipated Western girl, is not very sympathetic. Her visit is uncomfortable and uncomforting, and she cuts it short: not only because of the lack of rapport with her mother, but because she can't sleep. Keiko's unseen ghost keeps her awake.
added by kidzdoc | editThe New York Rview of Books, Gabriele Annan (pay site) (Dec 7, 1989)
 
''A Pale View of Hills'' is Kazuo Ishiguro's first novel. Its characters, whose bursts of self-knowledge and honesty erase their inspired self-deceptions only briefly, are remarkably convincing. It is filled with surprise and written with considerable charm. But what one remembers is its balance, halfway between elegy and irony.
 

» Add other authors (20 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Ishiguro, Kazuoprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Kendall, RoeNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Niki, the name we finally gave my younger daughter, is not an abbreviation; it was a compromise I reached with her father.
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It doesn’t matter how old someone is, it’s what they’ve experienced that counts. People can get to be a hundred and not experience a thing.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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The story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter. In a story where past and present confuse, she relives scenes of Japan's devastation in the wake of World War II.

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